Design & music in equal measures for Matt W

From the amount of glowing reviews Matt W gets, it’s not hard to recognize he goes above and beyond for his clients – and this goes nicely with his exceptional design skills.

But as we sat down with Matt for his interview, we quickly discovered that it’s not just design that plays a big part in his life. Coming from a family of musicians, his passion for music has certainly helped him on his way to become the established designer that he is today.

I am Matt. I am from Poland. My father is a musician and I was going to be a musician too, but I became a graphic designer. I still love music anyway. I used to go to sport school too, but I ended up in art school.

Musicians Guild. I don’t remember the client very well, but I still love the logo.

It seems like music plays a big part in your life!

I was playing accordion, guitar and bass guitar in the past. Unfortunately, I haven’t had any free time to play musical instruments lately. I listen to every kind of music that gets to me. I don’t close my mind to anything.

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t on 99designs?

Hard to tell. Probably some other job with design as a part of the name.

You mentioned art school, so you have training in design. What has 99designs taught you that you didn’t learn in school?

Before I came across 99designs, I’d created maybe 5 or 6 logo designs. Since I joined 99, I’ve created like 200-300 or more logo designs? I feel like I expanded my logo design skills a lot. I also learned how to manage better communication with my clients.

On that note, how did you first get into 99designs?

I quit my job in a design studio, because I had a proposal for another job – but it ended with me leaving my job and then not quite getting the new one 😛 I thought I’d earn some money on 99designs before finding a new one, but it turns out that I’ve been here since 2013 (and I am not looking for a job anymore).

What were your first thoughts when you saw our new brand guidelines?

Finally! 🙂 The rebrand was necessary. I like the new logo and branding more then previous one. It’s simple, so it should be timeless. But time will tell.

I think it’s very smart to have your brand fonts (Atlas Grotesk, Larsseit). I don’t know if you have exclusiveness on those typefaces, but if you do then good job. Squares are okay, but nothing original. I like branding with color, typefaces etc. Branding doesn’t always need to be a pictorial mark or just a logo.

The author

Sasha is part of the Designer Marketing team, based in Melbourne, Australia. Aside from developing content that helps 99designers to upskill and have fun designing, she also provides support for the Indonesian community. She was born in Indonesia, before moving to Melbourne at the age of 13. When not procrastinating, she likes swimming, writing and cooking.